The present invention relates to a tamper evident band closure assembly for use with a container having a peripheral bead.
Tamper-indicating or tamper-evident closures have become common-place in consumer markets. Typically, a threaded container includes an annular bead, or like annular projection extending from the container finish, adjacent to and below the container threaded portion. The closures are typically a unitary piece and include a cap and a depending tamper-indicating skirt that separates from the cap upon initial removal of the closure from the container.
Consumers will readily recognize that such one-piece closures are used for sealing containers of all types, including milk containers, juice containers, soft drink containers and the like. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such containers can have various sizes of openings and thus various sizes of closure caps. The container opening sizes may be dependent upon, in part, the liquid stored in the container. For example, some types of liquid foods may be best packaged in a container that has a relatively small dispensing opening that provides for directed pouring, while others liquids, such as milk, juice and the like, that are consumed directly from the container may be best packaged in containers having a relatively large dispensing opening.
A typical closure that is fitted to the container includes a plastic closure having a circular top and a depending annular skirt portion. The skirt portion has an internal thread configured to threadedly engage the container thread. A tamper evident band for providing tamper indication is provided by a separable band that extends and depends from the skirt portion. The band engages the skirt and separates from the skirt portion as the closure is removed from the container.
The band typically includes bridge-like connectors that extend between the skirt portion and the band. The connectors are designed and formed to break as the closure is initially removed from the container. Thus, after the closure is removed from the container, the tamper evident band remains on the container neck, warning subsequent users that the closure has been tampered with. Exemplary of such a closure is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,972 to Zemlo, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Although the one-piece closures function well to inform subsequent users that the container has been tampered with, the closures are still encumbered by many shortcomings. For example, when the closures are fitted onto the containers, the tamper evident bands are typically forced over the annular bead of the container neck, causing the tamper evident band to stretch over the bead. If the band stretches beyond a certain limit, the band may deform, causing the tamper evident band to over-expand and slip over the annular bead when the closure is removed from the container. As a result, the tamper evident band will also be removed, and subsequent users of the container will not know whether the container has been tampered with or not—destroying the very purpose of the tamper evident band.
Further, one-piece closures that have a frangibly connected tamper evident band are difficult to mold. Specifically, when larger containers are used to store more liquid, the container opening is typically larger, requiring larger diameter closures. When one-piece tamper evident band closures are molded in larger sizes, additional metallic slides and pieces must be added to the mold to properly form the closure. The slides and metallic pieces, however, occupy additional space in the mold. As a result, fewer closures may be manufactured during each molding operation.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved closure having a tamper evident band that addresses the shortcomings of present closures.